Remembrances of a Ten-Year-Old College World Series Employee (Re-printed from June 2021)

By Steve LaMontia, Director of Communications

(Updated June 22, 2022) I always get nostalgic this time of year because first of all, I’m getting older and can do that if I want!  Secondly, the College World Series in Omaha washes over me every June, every year. 

I published a College World Series feature article on our website last year titled ‘Remembrances of a Ten-Year-Old College World Series Employee’ and I think it deserves a re-read to a new audience or anyone who missed it the first time around.  Basically, the story is about a ten-year-old boy in 1960 who worked at Rosenblatt Stadium, the home of the CWS, and continued to do so for quite a few years after that.  He lived two blocks away, worked every game, ran home in the dark, and did it all for two baseballs per day as payment.  He would have done it for free.

Yes, that little guy is me and you don’t have time to read about all of my experiences during those years so I won’t go there.  For example, getting hit in the eye in the Minnesota bullpen when the pitcher’s control wasn’t going well, flipping the balls and strikes switches in the press box and praying I read the umpire correctly, or sitting in the metal, corrugated scoreboard and sliding in the numbers for the innings while it was 100 degrees with matching Nebraska humidity.  In those days, most games were played in the middle of the day, even during the week.

I won’t go any further at the risk of losing your attention.  To read the original article, just click on the picture below to sneak a peek into my past and read the original article.  I’m sure many of you out there can relate to this skinny little kid!